5 Step Formula for Getting Projects Done

Every day there seem to be 100 things that need to be done all at the same time. With so many people needing to be touched with the love of God in our world today, our churches are always busy with various projects... whether outreach to the community, special events for members, children's services... (the list can go on and on).

Our pastors are always in need of our encouragement, support and, probably more importantly, our commitment to getting our jobs done with excellence.

With so many projects going at the same time, getting a handle on them can be difficult. Here's my 5 step formula for getting projects done.

1. Begin with the end in mind
Begin each project with the end in mind. Picturing what you want your end result to be will help you create a clear cut action-plan for completing the project.

2. Set project goals and milestones with deadlines
Every project should have goals. Some are large, while others will be small. Each goal or milestone should include a deadline for completion. For example, if you are planning an outreach concert, one of your major goals would be to secure your venue... and you definitely need a deadlien for that.

3. Write everything down
Don't forget the importance of writing everything down. Trying to do things by memory is a recipe for disaster. There will be something that you won't remember. For every project I start I use an extensive checklist (a sample of the checklist I use when working on our yearly youth conference is inlcuded with my Basic Training 101 book and my Basic Forms Pak).

4. Organize and de-clutter
This is pretty self explanatory. When my office is organized, it just seems to lower my stress levels. I don't feel so "wound up" all the time. One thing that I use to keep my projects organized is a simple 2" binder. I call it my 2008 Proejcts Binder. It is divided into sections with tabs and my sections inlcude Items to Do Today, Women's Conferencd 2008, Letters Needing Response, New Speaking Requests, plus a few others. This helps me keep all of my current projects completely organized.

5. Have periodic check-ups
Every so often, depending on the scale of the project, you should evaluate your progress. If you are keeping a to-do list, this will be much easier. Scheduling weekly or bi-weekly planning meetings will help you and even your co-workers stay on target with your projects as well.

©2008 Church Secretary Essentials / Pensational Print Media Group

NOTE: You're welcome to use or "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete, unaltered and includes this blurb with it: Tamala M. Huntley, "The Church Secretary Coach," is the author of the revolutionary manual, "Basic Training 101: Effectively Managing Multiple Projects... A Super Easy Guide to Getting More Done, Reducing Office Clutter and Producing More With Less Stress." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ChurchSecretaryEssentials.com

Are You Just Busy?

There are days when I go home thinking, what did I accomplish today? This person came in asking for this and that person called wanting me to drop everything and help them do something else.By the end of the day, my to-do list is longer than it was when I started!Does this sound familiar?

I have a theory. Most of the time, we are just being busy... we are not accomplishing the really big things that we set out to do at the start of our day. This happens for many reasons. It's so easy to get distracted. And what happens is that we end up missing deadlines or feeling overwhelming pressure to finish something at the last minute.

I have a vaccine for the busy-but-not-productive bug...

Single Handle Every Task
This means that when you are working on updating the membership database, don't get distracted by incoming email, phone calls, or chatty co-workers. I recently read that when you concentrate on one task, single-mindedly, without distraction, you can get the job done 50% faster! And that starting and stopping a task can increase the time it takes you to finish it by 500%. Enough said.

Avoidance Doesn't Pay Off
Avoiding big or what we may consider hard tasks doesn't make them go away. I actually think it makes it harder for you to concentrate on what you are doing in its place. Instead of being able to focus your attention completely on the substitute task, you keep thinking about what you have to do to finish the "big one" and your productivity actually decreases. On the flip side, starting and finishing the big task will psychologically strengthen your resolve to get tackle the rest of your tasks.

Move Past Your Mistakes

When you make a mistake... and we all do... don't beat yourself up about it. Accept responsibility for the outcome. Figure out what went wrong. Create a system to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's that simple.

Don't be fooled by busyness. It is not the same as being productive. If you have the same tasks on your to-do list for weeks at a time and it's not because of someone else, you are too busy and can probably use a boost of productivity.

©2008 Church Secretary Essentials / Pensational Print Media Group

NOTE: You're welcome to use or "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete, unaltered and includes this blurb with it: Tamala M. Huntley, "The Church Secretary Coach," is the author of the revolutionary manual, "Basic Training 101: Effectively Managing Multiple Projects... A Super Easy Guide to Getting More Done, Reducing Office Clutter and Producing More With Less Stress." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ChurchSecretaryEssentials.com

My Women on the Frontline Pics

Even though I love advancements in technology, I'm a little slow on the digital camera thing so many of my pics didn't come out...

Two of my co-workers having a silly moment...

Me and Mrs. Berna taking a moment to strike a pose...I told you I wasn't so good with the pictures thing.

My friend Dione who was sooooo tired of waiting in line for us.

Me doing what I always do... work!

Still working...

This is how we all feel after working major conferences!

Are You Stressed Or Getting Rest Quiz

Rest is vitally important if we are going to be productive in our lives. Many people find it hard to balance their work and personal lives. Take the following quiz and see how well rested you are...

If you can say YES to 5 or more of the following questions, YOU NEED MORE REST!

Do you have to drink coffee or energy drinks every day just to wake up?

Do you lose concentration often?

Do you have multiple "stress" related health challenges?

Are you always doing 5 different things at one time (talking ont the phone, eating, working at the same time)

Do you always overcommit your time and end up cancelling appointments?

Do you constantly rush from one appointment the next and are late for all of them?

Do you always feel tired, like you never get enough sleep?

Do you consistently work 60-80 hours per week?

Do you feel guilty for not spending enough time with your family?

Do you miss taking vacation time at work each year, only to have it roll over to the next year (or not roll over, depending on your church)?

You can't remember the last time you read and finished a book?

Do you feel frazzled and restless most of the time?

Do you hate to see Monday coming?

Are you always checking phone message, Blackberry messages, or email at home?

Do you always take work home with you?

If you failed this quiz... Read my 7 simple tips for balancing work and life featured in the August edition of my ezine and go get some rest!!!

All In a Day's Work

There is no doubt about it... as a church secretary there is always TONS of work to be done.

We just had one the busiest weeks here at our church. Our Spiritual Encounter youth conference grows every year and this year we had the largest attendance yet... probably about 9,000 teenagers! Check out some of the pics:

This is just one of the many events we have. My boss is always EXTREMELY busy, which means I am too... but I love it! Wouldn't trade it for the world. It's all in a days work.

Vacations aren't bad either :). I took a week off after the conference and did nothing but sleep and read. It was WONDERFUL!

Every church is different, but the workloads are probably all the same (for us secretaries and assistants anyway). Check out my e-book Effectively Managing Multiple Projects for some tips on how to better manage your time and get organized to get it all done.

God bless ya!

- Tamala

Words Every Church Secretary Should Avoid

There are certain words that make a pastor, or any boss for that matter, cringe. They are words that a church secretary should banish from her vocabulary.

• "I called but nobody called me back." - Never just wait and see if someone will call you back. This can give your pastor the impression that you are not proactive. Call until you get someone who can give you the information you need, or explore another option for getting the info.

• "I can't find it." - When your pastor is relying on you to find the information that he/she needs, I can't find it is like letting the air out of a tire. You should maintain good filing and organization systems that will enable you to find letters, members contact information, etc. immediately.

• "I have a problem...and no suggestions for a solution (left unsaid)." - Whenever you bring a problem to your pastor, at least offer a solution or plan for how you intend to handle the problem.

• "I forgot to do XYZ." - This shouldn't happen because you should always write everything down. Keep a to-do list and update it at the end of each day so that you are prepared for the next day.

Of course there will be times when you don't know the answer or you do have a problem that you don't know how to solve. Sometimes situations can't be avoided. However, you should always be proactive and actively look for solutions.

My free report, the church secretary's 5 simple secrets to getting it all done will help you begin to put your daily routine on autopilot so you can get more done each day.

Funny how...

It's funny how often people choose to pull something negative from something positive. They have something critical to say about pretty much everything. You know the type. They're miserable in their own lives and they want to suck the joy out of the lives of everyone around them. I tend to avoid those kinds of people like the plague... I mean, who wants to be bothered with someone who looks and acts like they've been sucking on pickle juice all day?

You know, sometimes we get phone calls from "anonymous" people who see or hear something about us that gets them in an uproar. They get on their religious soapboxes and let us have it. Well, our usual response is that if a person doesn't leave their name and number with their "nice" message, we consider it pretty cowardly and we ignore them.

Hence, I figured what a great way to start this blog... For the past few weeks, I have been working on my blog site and I had a few articles posted. Well, today I decided to change the focus of the blog and make it something kind of fun called "A Day In The Life Of A Church Secretary" with little slices of the lives of some of today's busy church secretaries (dare I say you'd have to be one to understand). Anyway, as I was about to delete the old blogs I saw that I had received a comment to one of my posts. I was surprised to even have a comment because I hadn't started advertising the site yet since I wasn't done. Well, when I read the comment I was even more surprised by how something positive was "perceived" as something negative. I guess the story of a woman fed up with her situation and deciding to do something different that produced extraordinary results was a little lacking in theological foundational principles. Duh! It wasn't meant to be a sermon. It was actually a very brief recounting of a story from a magazine that I found pretty inspirational. Guess I should have done a little more research and dug up all the stories on Nadja I could find in hopes that I'd have enough data to support future ranting from anonymous "christians."

On any given day in the life of a church secretary anonymous noise can cause you to lose sight of your goals and all that God has in store for your life if you let it. As you go about fulfilling your purpose as the assistant to your awesome man or woman of God, don't let the useless chatter of pickle juice connoisseurs get you off track. For every person that tries to get you to become disgruntled in your assignment, ignore them... hey, hide under a table from them if you have to (just kidding). They'll nitpick at the smallest things, hoping to suck you into their joyless world. Don't let them. They'll point out all of your leader's imperfections. Ignore them. Well, pray for them too. Jesus said, with the hundredfold comes haters, oops, I mean persecution. Don't let fear of persecution from disgruntled others cause you to hold back your best from your boss...pastor...leader. Many times we sacrifice so much of our personal lives for the sake of what we are called to do. Sacrifice is not a dirty word. Many times, whenever there was a sacrifice made in the Bible, God was in the process of doing something amazing in the life of the one who gave her precious gift. As a church secretary you have many gifts that you give your man or woman of God on a daily basis. Trust, loyalty, diligence, resilience, and of course time are but a few. As you walk out your calling as one of God's trusted armorbearers (not usually a term used to describe secretaries, but it fits perfectly), know that God will reward your faithfulness.

Well, this wasn't "a day in the life" per se. Technically I'm not at the 'office', although church secretaries all over know that the 'office' is never one place. We work from whenever and wherever we need to :).

Also, I welcome any "a day in the life" stories you'd like to share.

-Tamala